The Kern Valley girls team along with coach Kenny Bushling were the HDL champions this season. Submitted photos.
Kern Valley boys squad finish second in league standings
The regular season for the Kern Valley cross country teams ended with a race versus Cal City. Both squads would try and hold on for their respective finishes.
The Lady Broncs squad would take the meet by forfeit (0-15) as Cal City did not have the required number of runners to field a qualifying team. The victory sealed the HDL championship for the undefeated league champion Lady Broncs.
Aspen Hacker ran the course in a time of 19.34 to take the top spot. Kyla Hacker followed in a time of 22.27 to come in second. Greta Boettcher came across the line in third place in a time of 22.46. Faith Kirby finished in the fourth spot for the Lady Broncs in a time of 25.55, while Kassandra Guarneros (26.14) came in fifth place. Tabitha Cazares (27.07) was sixth and rounding out the Kern Valley runners was Deliah McComes (32.55) in eighth.
The boys team ran to the 25-32 win to secure their second place finish in league. Their HDL mark was 6-1. They were led by Ethan Mauer who finished second in the race. His time was 20.26. Logan Sampson with a time of 20.28 crossed the line in third place, while Sebastian Stallone (21.52) was fifth. Angel Oliveras in a time of 23.43 was seventh. Dario Jones followed in a time of 24.46 came across the line in eighth. Wrapping up the Broncs runners was Matthew Leonez who finished ninth in a time of 24.56.
The teams still have the HDL Finals today at Frazier Mountain. This will determine individual places of all the Kern Valley runners.
Kern Valley head coach Kenny Bushling said, “I’m really proud of this team which is overwhelming made up of underclassmen.” He went on to say, “Incredible proud of the efforts of the boys and girls team this season and the teams are looking forward to the final league individual championship meet, and to the CIF Championship where both boys and girls team will compete on November 21 at Woodward Park in Fresno. We are also hoping to compete at the CIF State meet on November 30 again at Woodward Park. Both the CIF Section meet and the State meet are exciting to be a part of as there will be about 200 runners in each divisional race.”
